Water purification system for household

[mygoggie]

Thanks guys. Slowly but surely we will get there!

[mygoggie]

A week has passed with me working on the lathe restoration project. It however gave me some time to find a solution to the stagnant water problem in the weir outlet system.





Staring at the above picture for about 30 minutes gave Brain some time to work. And the solution was fairly simple. Drill a few holes in the reducing socket's chamfered section. This will allow the water to flow from the bottom of the standing pipe, in between the two pipes and out the tiny holes. The volume flowing through these holes will be minute and will not effect the weir's outlet height and related flow.

The first step was to find a method to drill the holes at equal distances. The easiest way for me is to make some mathematical calculations.






Basically, measure the diameter, calculate the circumference and divide this length into equal sectional lengths. In this case I thought four holes will do the required and I did the calculation from this basis. I then measured and marked these lengths onto a piece of masking tape. The tape was then stuck to the outside face of the reducer.





Drilling and countersinking the holes was then a simple process. Just drill at the location of each line!








And there was light!





The second reducer's holes went quicker. Why does the first try always take so long? I pulled the masking tape from the first reducer and simply rolled it onto the second reducer.








Staring down the barrel .. 





Next step was to grind away the lip that prevents the smaller 40mm diameter pipe from sliding through the reducer.





Two reducers with two pipes sliding through with a fairly tight fit. Oh yeah, and with holes.








Next step was to glue the reducers to the standing 50mm pipes.











Finally pushing the smaller 40mm pipes into the reducer pieces revealed that the idea will work!







Notice the water jets from the holes as the pipe displaces some water! I am happy!





 

[mygoggie]

The weather this weekend was perfect for some resealing work on the sand filter.

I have been dreading this job for a while. For no reason other than not knowing what sealant to use to seal the leaking joint of the polycarb window and the pool coat inner surfaces of the filter. Polycarb is known for the fact that not any sealant will stick to it. Evident in this case as well with the various layers of silicone and Sikaflex I found applied.

I hunted around for a while on the internet and gave up and drove to a specialist shop in town. It took some digging by the lady behind the counter but after a few five minute periods she showed me on the product range and specification sheet that this will work.






What is nice about this sealant is that it will bond to wet and humid surfaces. Precisely what is found in the sand filter.

The first step was to clean the chamber of debris and rainwater.






Then I used the Fein oscillating tool to cut a slot about 10mm from the polycarb. Not easy as I could not fit the tool between the glass and the overflow pipe.








The other end was easy and went a lot quicker.










Next step was to remove the wood with a wood chisel to create the slot.













With the debris removed and the slot cleaned out, it was time to let it dry out over night. It was soaking wet with water running from the wood. Not good!

This morning I swept and vacuumed the chamber clean.







I then sanded the exposed and adjoining surfaces to the slot with 36 grit sandpaper to get a course surface for the new sealant to grip on. In the process I also managed to remove all the remnants of the old sealants. On completion I once again I vacuumed the slot.







Next step was to clean the surfaces and the slot with a rag and thinners. I took my time and made sure every contact surface was squeaky clean.





Two tubes of sealant and a spit coated finger later, the new seal is installed! Why do the instructions never say use spit on your finger to smooth the surface? Always a special product name or soapy water ... 







And there we are. A total of seven hours later, the new seal is installed!





 

[mygoggie]

The new seal had a week to sit and cure. It was time to test the whole configuration and function of the sand filter.

The first step was to remove some sand from the filter chambers to create a bit of space for a water head. I have no idea what will work, so I simply removed a ¾ bucket of sand from each chamber.











Then it was time to get some water into the filters. I wanted to test the inlet system, so I stuck a hosepipe feeding water from the underground tank into the sand filter supply line.  I did not have any old tubes laying around, so Brain came up with the idea to make a bandage from a strip of linen.





Water slowly trickled from the manifold as I envisaged it should! Good!





I also adjusted the outlet weir heights to an arbitrary 50mm below the sand's surface level. Yeah, you can work out the sand's level! 





And there she blows!





Slowly filling ...






When it the water level reached the drain's opening I tested the new drain outlet I also installed last week.





First step was to open the hatch and the open the drain valve.





And the water started gurgling through the outlet section into the wetland. Working as designed. Jolly good old chap, even if I say so myself!










Then it was filling the sand filter head sections and wait until the water filters into the storage chamber. Each time the head space was filled I had to switch the pump off and wait for the water to drain into the storage chamber. The reason I had to do this? I simply cannot find the level switch I safely packed away for the big move to New Zealand. I have no idea where it is!













And so it proceeded until sunset. I called it a day at this level.






No leaks from the new seal and the sand in the chambers have settled by about 20mm which creates a bit larger head area.

Tomorrow I will repeat the process again until the storage chamber is at designed level. Have a fun and restful Sunday!

 

[FranZAR]

Well done. This was a very interesting project to follow.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

[mygoggie]

Well done. This was a very interesting project to follow.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Still lots to come! 

[mygoggie]

Part of the water purification system is a cheap solar heater I designed and built. Basically it consists of a collector made from 200 cooldrink bottles, PEX pipe, 12VDC pump and a PV panel. The idea is to get hot water into a home for less than R1000. Well this fourth revision has been working for four years without any maintenance.

The panel before installation on the roof.






Just to show the temperature inside each little greenhouse.







One problem I found was that the non-return valve I installed to prevent hot water siphoning from the geyser back to the panel at night is not working. A lot of reading later I decided to install the most simple solution of all. An anti-siphoning loop. This works due to the hot water cooling in the loop and then cannot rise out of the loop under thermal convection.

Today was the day to get this little item ticked off from my to do list. The main reason was that I want to install the water purification system's control panel and part of the panel is the solar heater control unit. It is of no use to control and optimise a system loosing heat when the collector works as a radiator under back siphoning conditions.

Let's get onto fixing this problem then! 

Here is the existing non-return valve that is not working as required.





With the pipe feeding from the solar heater to the geyser when the pump is operating.






Out came the roll of 13mm PEX pipe which will replace the existing black pipe and will be used to form the new circuit with the ant-siphoning loop.






PEX does not simply connect to copper. You have to use some form of conversion. Scratching in my plumbing box of spares I could make up two of these adaptor systems.






The loop formed and then as installed.







And the other end of the new pipe connected to the heater panel.





Now onto getting the control panel installed! 

[mygoggie]

I monitored the new abti-siphon loop last night and found that I made a mistake! I tied the loop together at the top and this created a heat transfer bridge. So the water on the hot side heated the water on the cold side and nullified the cooling effect of the loop.

I therefore installed three spacers creating a space between the pipes and now it works! 

[mygoggie]

Two weeks since I filled the filter and a small leak developed at the bottom of the plexiglass. On the RH side of this photo as indicated by the arrow.





Closer inspection showed that the plywood has delaminated and somehow the water is getting through the pool coat. I will see if I can replace the delaminated piece of plywood in some way and put a new coat of pool coat on the inside of the chamber.

So first step was to drain the chamber and clean it.





I also calculated the sand level and asked my garden engineer to remove sand to this level. I will make the sand surface level once I have some water in the filter chambers and can use the water as a leveling reference.






I have been hunting for the missing float level switch for the past two days. It is somewhere safe ...

A peep into the cavity where it will pass through to be installed in the small control chamber. That is the RH filter chamber's isolation valve as installed in the inlet line.






I really really hope to find the level switch quickly! 

[mygoggie]

It has been a few full moons and dark moons since I last worked on the filter. Most of my spare time was spent on the Colchester lathe project and getting my Pajero restored.

Yesterday I asked the garden Engineer to empty the one filter chamber so that I could try and determine where the origin of the leak is that appears at the front of the plexiglass.

He spent most of the day getting the sand out. Who can ever imagine that so much sand goes into the filter!





The filtered water chamber still looking good after standing with water for a few months.






The sand filter chamber not looking too good! 

Why is the pool coat pink?








I took some Jik and soap as started scrubbing the chamber. Mainly to get it clean, get any algae off and to see what is to be seen.






And then I saw what I did not want to see ....






Delaminated pool coat.






I got the scrapers out and started scrapping the chamber. Only the sides with original pool coat on was delaminating in specific patches. As I removed the loose layer a weird smell eminated. I also noticed that someone did not sand the original surface very well. I wonder who that could be???








Tomorrow I will have to dress up like a spaceman and sand the sides again. I think the filter might have moved, swollen as well as some osmosis might have occurred. I will see tomorrow what is what after I have sanded the sides. I must be honest and say that I am not looking forward to it ...

I also noticed a design fault. There is sand in the filtered water pipes. This means the grading of my filter material is not correct and I will have to install some Bidem between the gravel and the sand layers to ensure the sand does not penetrate into the gravel layers and pipes.







Part of designing a new system is it not? Have fun! 

[mygoggie]

What an utter total $h1t job this is to sand resin in a confined space. First you need to dress up like a spaceman and then while sweating like a horse, try and see through your fogged glasses and safety glasses.

At least Covid taught us how to distinguish shapes through fogged glasses ... 

Someone in the past was bright enough to paint something over the fibreglass and pool coat. I then applied my two layers of pool coat onto this existing surface. Somehow the water (I think with osmosis) dislodged this "paint something" from the fibreglass and/or pool coat ...

So ... I had to sand everything down till it was solid resin or pool coat again.







I will ask the Garden Engineer to clean and do the final sanding tomorrow.

Brain is still trying to figure out the chemical reaction that caused this. Well, good luck to him. I had enough of it to care. 

[mygoggie]

Well, the tomorrow did not happen as I got stuck with the broken Pajero and my efforts to get it going and learning how to cast white metal!

Last night when I was thinking what I will be doing on the Pajero project, Brain spoke out loudly with two words: "Water purification"  Now, for Brain to speak loudly it must be a serious issue. When I asked him why this now, two softly spoken words followed: "No water".

Hmmm, yeah this new little town of us with the name that means abundant red clay is almost without any water ... So ... me thinks me needs to listen to Brain.

This morning, very early I rose. With the sun that is. No cocks crowing as we live in the small new little town.

I cleaned the filter of all the gunk and leaves and previously sanded rubbish. This took quite a while. More than 3 sets of 30 minutes. I even had to get the high pressure washer into action.

There we are! Cleaned working surfaces ...











Closer inspection revealed a LOT of peeling of the pool coat I applied. Sigh ... either the previous coating is not pool coat or it was gel coat. Not pool coat that is for sure.

So out came the grinder again and onto sanding ... 

After 2 sets of 30 minutes and two dives into the swimming pool to get sane, I tackled the cleaning process again. This time with the vacuum cleaner.









Sanding the sand chamber, I found an area where the fibreglass resin was very poorly applied and actually did not form a solid surface. Is this where the leak is?





Once cleaned I inspected the surfaces again and still more areas were delaminated! 

Not what I wanted to see .... so I donned my gear again and sanded the areas again. Making sure that the "leak" area is sanded very clean and to solid resin.

Another 30 minutes past and a long time in the pool had me more or less sane again. Sitting in a white cloud of sanded pool coat with no sense of distance and orientation and only relying on the good quality respirator to breathe takes a lot of calming yourself. I can only imagine what the Antarctica pilots must feel when they are in a white out. Really disorientating! 

Vacuumed and wiped clean with acetone, I got the resin and fibreglass matting out. A new layer of stranded mat went onto the "leak" area as well as onto the previously repaired area of the inlet chamber.







I really hope the surfaces of the storage chamber are now ready for applying the new layer of pool coat!





Tomorrow early, I will sand the newly installed fibreglass and then wash everything down with a soapy solution. The dust simply sticks and the vacuum does not get the surfaces clean enough. Hopefully all the surfaces will be ready for the pool coat in the afternoon!

Brain looks pleased with my progress ... Sometimes I do wish he would speak words of encouragement, but I will take a "looks". 

 

[mygoggie]

And it was an early rising morning ...

I inspected my work of yesterday and saw numerous places where there peeling was evident. The new fibreglass sections were solid and needed minimal sanding. So ... I dressed up again and spent 2 off 30 min sessions back to back to sand all the troublesome areas as well as the two newly fibreglassed sections.

Then it was washing all the surfaces with soap and water and washing this down with the high pressure washer.

Cleaning took another while as I wanted to be doubly sure all the dust is more or less removed.

There we are ...










I found another problem. The pipe clips break when you touch them. Not bump, simply touching makes these break! 






I will ask the supplier what is to be done as this is not acceptable. 

Now onto waiting for the hot morning to dry all, then onto a good vacuum and wipe down with acetone. Hopefully I can apply the pool coat before this afternoon's dew.